Defending champions Serbia showed their title ambitions at the men's water polo group stage of 14th FINA Swimming Championships by romping hosts China 17-5 in Shanghai on Monday.

Serbia dominated the whole game from the very beginning, showing prowess in both ends. The 53.1 percent shooting percentage was much higher than that of China.

Filip Filipovic, who buried 4 goals, was dubbed as the match top scorer.

"We're satisfied with our performance today. Our goal is to achieve the first place in Group B. We will be lucky to win in the final. Our arch rivals are Italy, Spain and Hungary. We need a lot of practice to win the gold medal," said Serbian player Andrija Prlainovic.

Thanks to Aaron Younger, who scored the winner, Australia grabbed a 9-8 narrow victory over Romania.

Australia clawed back the deficit in the fourth quarter and levelled it at 8-8 after Romania enjoying a one-goal advantage two minutes earlier. With 44 seconds left, Younger made the clutch shot, gifting the win to Australia.

In an earlier game, Hungary also feasted a slim lead on 11-10 over Montenegro. Germany defeated the United States 9-7.

Big power Italy almost whitewashed South Africa by 17-1. Suffering 14 straight unanswered goals in the first three quarters, South Africa scored the only consolation goal in the last period.

In other games Monday, Canada overwhelmed Japan 11-5 and Croatia smashed Brazil 14-5. European tough rock Spain enjoyed a bigger winning gap by 18-5 over Kazakhstan.